1. Technical Field
Exemplar embodiments of the present invention relate to a display panel, and more particularly, to a method of testing a display panel and an apparatus for performing the method.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes a display panel that displays an image by transmitting light through a liquid crystal (LC) material and through a transparent substrate. The display panel includes an LC cell, a backlight unit (BLU), and circuitry for driving the LC cell and the BLU. The circuitry includes a gate driving circuit, a data driving circuit, a timing control circuit, and other related components. The LC cell mar include an array substrate and an opposite substrate facing the array substrate. The LC cell also includes an LC layer between the array substrate and the opposing substrate. The array substrate includes a thin-film transistor (TFT) array. The array substrate also includes a plurality of data lines, a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of pixel electrodes. The LC cell includes an active area and a peripheral area. An image is displayed in the active area, and the peripheral area surrounds the active area. The peripheral area may include the gate driving circuit and the data driving circuit.
Some manufacturers of LCDs have adopted a chip-on-glass (COG) manufacturing method. In the COG method, an integrated circuit (IC) chip is mounted on a substrate of the LC cell. A gate driving IC, a data driving IC, and/or a timing control IC may be mounted on the substrate. The substrate may include glass or plastic and may be transparent.
In this case, defects of the active area of the display panel are detected through a cell test.
However, defects of power lines of the display panel are detected after the LCD is full assembled, and not at a cell test stage. Thus, manufacturing costs may be increased.